Be An Employer of Choice and Beat the Craft Worker Shortage

Be An Employer of Choice and Beat the Craft Worker Shortage

Surprisingly it doesn’t mean your company has to get listed by a prominent magazine, or that you have to encourage your workforce to send in nominations to somebody. It’s really more about understanding the hallmarks of an employer of choice, and then nurturing those in your company.

Other Strategies Ranked High

Respondents to the FMI survey also singled out other methods they’ve found very effective for not only attracting new trade workers, but also for retaining them.

Using an incentivized employee referral program

Encouraging external referrals

Posting jobs on the company website

Using online recruiting tools

Market competitive pay

Comprehensive benefits and rewards

Survey respondents said the top five types of trade workers that will be in short supply over the next five years are craft helpers, laborers, heavy equipment operators, carpenters and ironworkers. The ones that will be hardest to find are the heavy equipment operators, welders, carpenters, pipe fitters and ironworkers. Admittedly, the group of executives in this survey are from large national contractors. Many of them have a high percentage of self-performed work, making their dependence on the craft workers greater.